BBC Radio 7 to re-broadcast adaptation of Stephen Baxter’s 1996 novel Voyage

BBC Radio 7’s Seventh Dimension programme will re-broadcast a stellar 1999 radio adaptation of British hard science fiction author Stephen Baxter's award-winning alternate history novel Voyage (1996), in which President John F. Kennedy survives his assassination attempt and the first manned mission to Mars blasts off in the year 1985. Adapted by Dirk Maggs and starring William Roberts and Laurel Lefkow, Voyage will be broadcast in five 30-minute segments, from Monday, March 29, through Friday, April 3, 2010, at 6:00 pm and Midnight (GMT):

• 1969-71 Decision. The first manned Mars mission awaits in this alternative history of the US space programme.

• 1972-80 Trajectories. Geologist Natalie York battles for a seat on the first manned Mars mission.

• 1980 Apollo N. The first manned mission to Mars hangs on the NERVA nuclear booster test flight.

• 1981-85 Approaches. Natalie York's hopes of a seat on the first manned Mars mission look bleak.

• 1985-86 Project Ares. The first manned Mars mission blasts off on a perilous voyage of discovery.

Presumably, the broadcast will be archived and available on-demand for a very limited time through BBC7’s Listen Again feature. In other words, plan ahead!

BBC podcast of Robert A. Heinlein's 1947 short story "The Green Hills of Earth"

BBC Radio 7’s Seventh Dimension recently broadcast a reading of Robert A. Heinlein’s classic short story “The Green Hills of Earth” (1947), a tale about Rhysling, a poetic radiation-blinded spaceship engineer who travels the solar system writing and singing songs. The 30-minute broadcast will be available for the next few days as a streaming podcast through BBC7’s Listen Again feature.

Here are some lines from "The Grand Canal", a song about Mars, taken from Heinlein’s story:

Old time radio: Adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1950 short story "Outcast of the Stars"

Back in January 1952, the radio program NBC Presents: Short Story broadcast “The Rocket,” a 30-minute adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s short story “Outcast of the Stars” (1950, variant title "The Rocket"), which was originally published in the March 1950 issue of Super Science Stories magazine. According to old time radio aficionado Bob Camardella, the adaptation is about “a poor man who runs a junkyard [and] wants nothing more in life than to travel to Mars." Enjoy!

Animator Ray Harryhausen on Orson Welles and The War of the Worlds

Here is a beautiful excerpt from an interview conducted a few years ago with master animator Ray Harryhausen, in which he discusses his attempt to interest Orson Welles in making an animated film of H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds (1898), and how he came close to working with Welles in Spain:

10 awesome The War of the Worlds items for bibliophiles listed on AbeBooks

1) The War of the Worlds (1897)
By H.G. Wells
Bound volume of the 1897 Cosmopolitan serialization, published simultaneously with the Pearson Magazine serialization in Great Britain. This is the first appearance of the work in the United States and predates the 1898 first edition novel; illustrated. $5,000

2) The War of the Worlds: A Newly Illustrated Digest of H.G. Wells' Famous Story (1939)
Dell Publishing's 48-page digest adaptation with comic-book style cover and b&w illustrations; tied to the famous 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles; front cover touts “When they told it on the radio … It terrified the whole country"; rear cover displays headlines from The New York Times and New York Post. $225

The Saturday Evening Post posts 1940 article about disturbing life of Orson Welles

For a companion piece to its October 24, 2009, retrospective article, “Are We Ready for Another Martian Invasion?”, The Saturday Evening Post has posted a neat article from its archives: “How to Raise a Child: The Disturbing Life -- to Date -- of Orson Welles” (PDF, 1.6 MB), by Alva Johnston and Fred Smith, published in the February 3, 1940, issue.

BBC Radio to broadcast reading of C. L. Moore’s classic 1933 short story “Shambleau”

BBC Radio 7 will broadcast a reading of female SF&F author C. L. Moore’s classic science fiction/fantasy short story “Shambleau” this week. Originally published in the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine, the story is essentially a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Medusa, and stars Moore's interplanetary hero Northwest Smith. Here’s the broadcast schedule for “Shambleau,” with descriptions provided by the BBC:

• Episode 1, August 31st and again on September 1st. A space bounty-hunter lives to regret rescuing a young woman from attack.

• Episode 2, September 1st and again on September 2nd. Northwest Smith discovers the secret power of the alien woman he rescued.

• Episode 3, September 2nd and again on September 3rd. As he falls under the snake-haired alien's spell, is Northwest's time up?

Presumably, these episodes will be archived and accessible for a limited time through BBC’s "Listen Again" feature. Check the BBC’s website for details.

If you prefer to read “Shambleau” yourself, read it for free online. Note that all of C. L. Moore's Northwest Smith stories were published in Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith (March 2008), which you can purchase from Paizo Publishing. The collection was reviewed by Fred Kiesche at SF Signal.

Pictured: Shambleau

Take the University of Maryland's 1997 "Mars in Science Fiction Quiz"

Want to test your knowledge of science fiction books and films about Mars and Martians? Take the University of Maryland’s “Mars in Science Fiction Quiz,” which was created in the Fall of 1997 as part of the university’s Mars in Fact and Fiction exhibit. Housed in “The Mars Room” at the Hornbake Library, the exhibit displayed items such as the U.S. postage stamp honoring NASA's Pathfinder, miniature models of Pathfinder and Sojourner, and old paperback versions of H. G. Wells' seminal novel The War of the Worlds (1898). In addition, the walls of the exhibit area were decorated with Hollywood movie posters, a NASA poster of Mars, 3-D photographs
of the Martian surface, a cardboard model of the planet's Valles Marineris, illustrations from the original serialization of The War of the Worlds in Pearson's magazine, newspaper articles, and copies of script pages from the famous 1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast.

Ready? Here’s the quiz:

1. What well-known American writer, in a series of novels, referred to Mars as "Barsoom"?

2. In the 1938 Orson Welles radio program where did the fictional Martian invasion of the USA begin?

3. In what novel did a noted science-fiction writer have a colony named "Port Lowell"?

4. What was the name of the 12-year-old boy-hero of the 1953 movie Invaders from Mars?

5. In what 1984 science-fiction movie was the Orson Welles 1938 radio play suggested to be a cover for a real invastion of the Earth by aliens?

6. What famous short story about Mars, written by Stanley Weinbaum, featured a Martian named "Tweel"?

7. Who played the scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester in the 1953 movie The War of the Worlds?

8. What famous English novelist and essayist called Mars "Malacandra"?

9. Who is the author of the trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars?

10. In what famous science-fiction novel was the Martian verb "to grok" introduced? What does "to grok" mean?

Although no answers to the quiz are provided, I’ve figured out the answers and posted them in the comments section. I answered most, but not all, of the questions correctly. Good luck!

Pictured: Cover of 1976 Andor Classic paperback edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

Grover’s Mill Coffee Company rewrites the story of the 1938 Martian invasion

The Grover’s Mill Coffee Company of West Windsor, New Jersey, which believes in a relaxing cup of good coffee and is dedicated to the memory of Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Well’s novel The War of the Worlds (1898) and its lasting imprint on American history and society, has rewritten the story of the 1938 Martian invasion. The revised story, which is really a piece of flash fiction, is titled “What Really Happened at Grover’s Mill? The Martian Prespective”. Here are the opening lines:

Our Story Begins ...

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles' radio broadcast version of The War of the Worlds shocked the nation. The radio drama proclaimed that Martian invaders had landed in the sleepy hamlet of Grover's Mill, New Jersey. While many across the land believed the broadcast, it was later dismissed as a hoax. Yet the local farmers of Grover's Mill knew better -- the Martians had indeed come -- and they came for the coffee. ...

The Grover’s Mill Coffee Company sells several flavors of gourmet coffee, including Rocket Fuel, Orson’s Expresso, and Martian Mocha Java. If you’re traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike this summer, take Exit 8 and check out the company's Grover's Mill Coffee House & Roastery at 295 Princeton Hightstown Road, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550.

Pictured above: Logo of Grover's Mill Coffee Company's Martian Mocha Java coffee.

Author Kim Stanley Robinson discusses the green in his Mars novels with Ozarks Public Radio

SF author and environmental advocate Kim Stanley Robinson discusses the role of the environment in
his three Mars novels, Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), Blue Mars (1996), in an audio interview
with Jennifer Moore of KSMU, Ozarks Public Radio, Missouri State University. The interview is only six minutes, but it’s worth listening to.

Here’s a description of the interview, taken from KSMU's website:

Kim Stanley Robinson is the author of the Mars Trilogy, three science-fiction novels about the settlement of Mars. Robinson's passion for the environment and sociological issues like overpopulation are common themes in his books. KSMU's Jennifer Moore spoke with Robinson, who is in Springfield for MSU's annual Public Affairs Conference.

Robinson says he got interested in science-fiction writing as an undergraduate in college. In the 1970s, when scientists learned an abundance about Mars, he became particularly interested in the "Red Planet."

He looked at the geographical layout of Mars, and thought it was the best place imaginable for a backpacker. So, he created in his novels a civilization there.

He committed to a long story -- thus the trilogy -- beginning the work in the 1980s, and finishing it off in the 1990s.

Robinson says in setting up a fictional civilization on Mars, he reflected on history, and on various civilizations throughout humanity.

He says his novels contain characters who are trying to change the environment of Mars, and others fighting to keep it as it is.

After more than 100 years, H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds still captures our attention

Here are some neat signs which illustrate that more than 100 years after H. G. Wells’ seminal science fiction novel The War of the Worlds (1898) was first published as a serial in Britain's Pearson’s Magazine in 1897, it continues to capture our attention:

• Steve Mollmann, a graduate student and teaching assistant in literature at the University of Connecticut, is working on a paper about two unauthorized American serializations of The War of the Worlds that were printed in the New York Evening Journal and Boston Post newspapers in late 1897 and early 1898.

• British SF author Eric Brown takes science fiction horror to a new level of morbidity with his forthcoming novel, The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies (2009), in which he has "taken the regular narrative of H.G. Wells’s book and has blended his own thoughts on a zombie apocalypse into it seamlessly.” The novel, published by Coscom Entertainment, is scheduled to be released on April 30th.

• Grovers Mill Pond in New Jersey, which was the site of the Martian landing described in the famous 1938 Orson Welles radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, has undergone an extensive restoration, making the pond inhabitable for fish again. Governor John Corzine attended a ceremony in which the pond was restocked with blue gills, pumpkin seed sunfish, largemouth bass, brown bullheads and catfish.

Pictured above: Cover of Eric Brown’s forthcoming novel, The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies (2009).

Old time radio: BBC rebroadcasts Journey Into Space: The Red Planet

Starting on Monday, April 13, 2009, and continuing for several days, BBC Radio 7 will rebroadcast The Red Planet, the second series in Journey Into Space, a classic science fiction radio program written and produced in the 1950s by BBC's Charles Chilton. Originally broadcast over several months from September 1954 to January 1955, The Red Planet consists of 20 episodes set in the late 20th century and stars actor Andrew Faulds as Captain Andrew “Jet” Morgan.

Check BBC 7’s website for specific dates and times of the live rebroadcast of The Red Planet. The best opportunity to listen to the rebroadcast might be through BBC's "Listen Again" feature, which makes programs available for about a week after they are aired.

Here are descriptions of the first six of the 20 episodes of The Red Planet, taken directly from BBC Radio 7’s website:

• Episode 1. “Captain Jet Morgan and his crew commence their 1971 mission to Mars, but there's a problem.”

• Episode 2. “Captain Jet Morgan is bound for Mars, but one of his crew has been cast adrift in space.”

• Episode 3. “Whitaker is behaving strangely, as bad dreams plague the crew on their mission to Mars.”

• Episode 4. “The mystery over Whitaker deepens, as tragedy strikes on board one of the Mars freighters.”

• Episode 5. “With communications to Earth lost, Jet Morgan's courage is tested during a meteor swarm.”

• Episode 6. “Captain Jet Morgan and his crew receive warnings to turn back - but who is sending them?”

Science Friday: NPR discusses Mars

This afternoon NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday radio program, hosted by Ira Flatow, discussed two neat topics: the contamination of Mars by bacteria from Earth, and the new Google Mars maps. Here's the coolest line from the broadcast: "The moon is dead, Jim."

Try the new Google Mars.

Reading Mars for an M.Phil in Popular Literature

According to an inactive blog about the M.Phil in Popular Literature at Trinity College Dublin, one of the courses offered back in 2007 was titled
"Mapping the Myths of Mars". Taught by Dr. Kate Hebblethwaite, here’s a description of that course:

“Both the nearest and most comparable planet in the solar system, yet so far unconquered by man, Mars shares an uneasy brotherhood with the Earth: remote, aloof, and until relatively recently, impenetrable except by terrestrial telescope. The scope for imaginative licence in representations of the planet has thus been limited solely by the gradual and intermittent scientific revelations about it. The examination of popular fiction's utilisation of Mars as a narrative location is therefore significant for the opportunity it offers authors to work with a conveniently isolated environment. An unchanging virgin world on which the projection of popular ideas and social criticism is the prerogative of the author alone, fictional representations of Mars are unique in the oppotunity they afford for the critical examination of changing cultural influences and concerns in popular literature.”

And here were the course’s "primary texts":

• The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells

• A Princess of Mars (1917), by Edgar Rice Burroughs

• The War of the Worlds (1938), radio script by Howard Koch

• The Martian Chronicles (1950), by Ray Bradbury

• Martian Time-Slip (1964), by Philip K. Dick

• Man Plus (1976), by Frederick Pohl

• Farewell Earth's Bliss (1972), by D.G. Compton

• Blade Runner (1982), film directed by Ridley Scott

• The Mars Mystery (1998), by Graham Hancock

• The Martian Race (1999), by Gregory Benford

• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. II (2003), by Allan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

• The War of the Worlds (2005), film directed by Stephen Spielberg

Podcast: Author Robert Zubrin on The Space Show

Dr. Robert Zubrin, noted author, aerospace engineer, and president of The Mars Society, appeared recently as a guest on The Space Show, a California radio program hosted by Dr. David Livingston that focuses on issues influencing the development of outer-space commerce and space tourism.

In a lengthy conversation that lasted nearly 90 minutes and which you can listen to as a podcast, Dr. Zubrin and Dr. Livingston discussed Mars, Methane and life on Mars, human missions to Mars, President Obama's space policy, the Moon vs. Mars, NASA, terraforming Mars, space solar power for Mars, and Dr. Zubrin's new book How to Live on Mars: A Trusty Guidebook to Surviving And Thriving on the Red Planet (2008).

For a detailed summary of the conversation, read Dr. Livingston's notes.

“The Martian Crown Jewels,” a Sherlockian Sci-Fi mystery by Poul Anderson

Originally published in the February 1958 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, “The Martian Crown Jewels,” by Poul Anderson, is a Sherlockian “locked room” science fiction mystery. The plot revolves around the theft of the Martian crown jewels (worth half a billion UN dollars), which are being transported back to Mars from Earth aboard the robot spaceship Jane Brackney. A seven-foot-tall Martian named Syaloch, the most renowned private detective on the Red Planet, is called upon to solve the case. One of the suspects: a technician named John Carter.

Here are the opening lines of the story:

"The signal was picked up when the ship was still a quarter million miles away, and recorded voices summoned the technicians. There was no haste, for the ZX28749, otherwise called the Jane Brackney, was right on schedule; but landing an unmanned spaceship is always a delicate operation. Men and machines prepared to receive her as she came down, but the control crew had the first order of business. ..."

Apparently, the SciFi Channel did an Internet radio adaptation of
“The Martian Crown Jewels” for its Seeing Ear Theatre, which aired between 1997 and 2001. To my knowledge, that adaptation, which starred Bronson Pinchot as Syaloch, is not archived on the Internet.

Editor Annalee Newitz of the blog io9 writes about Barsoom in The Washington Post

Annalee Newitz, editor of the stellar science fiction blog io9, has written a fascinating feature titled
“Fasten Your Seatbelts” for the Sunday, January 4, 2009, issue of The Washington Post. Focusing on
“how people have imagined the future during difficult periods in history (including our own),” Newitz discusses Star Trek, Terminator, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, as well as a pulp writer from Chicago named Edgar Rice Burroughs. Check it out but disregard the newspaper's picture of
U.S. Representative John Carter (R-Texas), as the real John Carter of Mars is a gentleman from Virginia!

The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas: “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"

Last evening I listened to “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (35 min.), an episode from The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas that aired in the mid-2000s and is archived on TalkZone.

Based on the 1961 television episode of The Twilight Zone and starring actor Richard Kind with narration by Stacy Keach, "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" is about two state troopers who investigate a rural UFO sighting. The troopers question seven people at a roadside diner who all claim to be from Earth, even though one of them is not.

Sadly, this radio adaptation is not very good. Kind’s performance is solid but several of the other participants don’t portray their characters in a convincing manner and Keach’s narration sounds winded.

Interestingly, one of the characters in "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" utters these lines: "Just like a real science fiction story, that's what she is, like a regular Ray Bradbury. Six humans and one monster, all the way from outer space. Wonder if it came from Mars or from Venus."

Robert Zubrin discusses his new book, How to Live on Mars, with Public Radio

New Hampshire Public Radio recently interviewed scientist and author Robert Zubrin about his new book How to Live on Mars: a Trusty Guidebook to Surviving and Thriving on the Red Planet (December 2008). A blend of science, science fiction, and humor, Zubrin's guide seeks to address many of the important challenges humans will face when they relocate to Mars.

Dr. Robert Zubrin is an aerospace engineer, president of The Mars Society, and of one of the most vocal proponents for the human colonization of Mars. Two recent reports that echo his call to arms:

• Beyond the Moon: a New Roadmap for Human Space Exploration in the 21st Century, by The Planetary Society (November 2008)

• The Future of Human Spaceflight, a white paper by the Space, Policy, and Society Research Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (December 2008)

Radio hoax scares Croatia’s capital with reports about aliens, Orson Welles-style

Radio Hoax Scares Croatia’s Capital with Reports about Aliens, Orson Welles-Style

12 December 2008 | Radio reports about an unidentified flying object about to land in Zagreb on Wednesday gave the Croatian capital’s residents a scare and angered authorities.

The Croatian radio station Antenna caused chaos in Zagreb on the morning of December 9 with a report about a bright spot of light moving in the sky over the capital and fake testimonies of witnesses observing the phenomenon.

Zagreb’s residents - worried and scared, immediately started to call relatives, the municipality, the police and the fire department, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency and the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported recently.

The hoax was a kind of a repeat of the radio play The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells, adapted by Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre group and narrated by Welles himself. Written and performed to sound like a real news broadcast about an invasion from Mars, when it aired in the US in 1938, thousands of people panicked and flooded newspapers, radio and police stations with calls and inquiries on how to protect themselves. In retrospect, the hoax is seen as having tested successfully and authentically how radio worked in an emergency.

The Croatian radio journalists admitted only around noon that their report was a joke, aimed at ridiculing Mayor Milan Bandić’s plans to turn Zagreb into a police stronghold. Bandić intended to supply the police with a helicopter, an unmanned flying device, an armoured car and other special instruments, as well as to build a fortified command centre. The journalists behind the joke had decided to test the authorities by faking a Martian attack on the air.

It seems that the joke angered police authorities, who said today that they will file a complaint against the responsible journalists for disturbing public order and spreading false information.

From BalkanTravellers.com